Sally Wainwright - IMDb IMDb Sally Wainwright was born in 1964 in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England. She is a writer and producer, known for Happy Valley (2014), Emmerdale (1972) and Scott & Bailey (2011). See full bio » Born: Share this page: Related News a list of 33 people created 15 Aug 2012 a list of 608 people created 15 Nov 2014 a list of 35 people created 4 months ago a list of 30 people created 3 months ago a list of 30 people created 3 months ago Do you have a demo reel? Add it to your IMDbPage How much of Sally Wainwright's work have you seen? User Polls 3 wins & 11 nominations.

See more awards » Known For 2016 To Walk Invisible: The Bronte Sisters (TV Movie) (written by) Last Tango in Halifax (TV Series) (created and written by - 18 episodes, 2012 - 2015) (written by - 2 episodes, 2016) - Episode #4.1 (2016) ... (written by) - Episode #3.6 (2015) ... (created and written by) - Episode #3.5 (2015) ... (created and written by) - Episode #3.4 (2015) ... (created and written by) 2013 The Last Witch (TV Movie) (creator) / (written by) 2009 Unforgiven (TV Mini-Series) (written by - 3 episodes) - Episode #1.1 (2009) ... (written by) 2007 Bonkers (TV Series) (writer - 1 episode) - Episode #1.1 (2006) ...

(creator) / (written by) 2006 Jane Hall (TV Series) (writer - 6 episodes) - Episode #2.2 (1999) ... (written by) 1999 Bad Girls (TV Series) (written by - 1 episode) - Falling Apart (1999) ... (written by) 1996-1998 Coronation Street (TV Series) (written by - 10 episodes) 1989 Children's Ward (TV Series) (1992-1995) Hide 2013 The Last Witch (TV Movie) (executive producer for Red) 2011-2013 Scott & Bailey (TV Series) (executive producer - 18 episodes) 2005 Jane Hall (TV Series) (co-producer) 2002 Sparkhouse (TV Mini-Series) (co-producer - 3 episodes) - Episode #3.1 (2002) ...

(associate producer) Hide 2014 The One Show (TV Series) Herself 2013 The Crime Thriller Club (TV Series documentary) Herself 2012 Crime Connections (TV Series documentary) Herself - Writer & Creator, 'Scott & Bailey' - Episode #1.6 (2012) ... Herself - Writer & Creator, 'Scott & Bailey' - Episode #1.3 (2012) ... Herself - Writer & Creator, 'Scott & Bailey' 2008 Drama Trails (TV Series documentary) Herself Sally Wainwright: not the same old | Television & radio | The Guardian Drama Sally Wainwright: not the same old Last Tango in Halifax is that rare thing: a feelgood hit drama about older people. Writer Sally Wainwright tells Caroline Rees about putting her own mother’s romance on screen Zimmer-free zone … Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid in Last Tango in Halifax.

Photograph: Ben Blackall/BBC Caroline Rees Sunday 3 November 2013 15.00 EST First published on Sunday 3 November 2013 15.00 EST Share on Messenger Close 'I've never had feedback like that before," says writer Sally Wainwright of the correspondence she received last year in the wake of her BBC drama Last Tango in Halifax , about two septuagenarian sweethearts. "As a writer, you don't get many letters from members of the public. I think I've had the same number for Last Tango that I've had in the past 20 years." She adds, drily: "That's about seven." Last Tango, which won two Baftas, returns for a second series this month. It is popular, in part, because it tells the story of older people without depicting them as senile or terminally ill. Actors Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid, who play the couple, report receiving an "extraordinary" public thumbs up. "It's so un-ageist," says Reid.

"I get scripts all the time that say: 'This old lady comes in on a zimmer frame.' And I think: 'Oh hello, that's my part, is it?' No, thank you. Lots of people in their 60s and 70s are not doddery old idiots, and [they] are having interesting lives." If you typified Wainwright's work, you'd pick out her flawed but sympathetic characters, her sense of humour and her pithy social observations – underpinned, she hopes, by a "ripping yarn". Despite her track record – At Home With the Braithwaites, Unforgiven, Scott & Bailey – the BBC and ITV turned down Last Tango when she first pitched the idea, the suspicion being that senior citizens were considered a viewer turn-off. Wainwright says she never really found out why. "You're at the whim of whatever the trends are. You go away and swear a lot because you feel passionate about it, but it's part of the job." Six months later, having presumably woken up to the maturity of its audience, the BBC changed its mind.

Last Tango was never conceived as a retort to an imbalance in the demographic reach of television: it was essentially a story about her widowed mother, who, at the age of 75, fell in love with a man she'd known at junior school. "It was about dramatising how mum became a different person," Wainwright reflects. "I wanted to show them going out and having fun, because that's true to what happened. My mum came to live with us when my dad died. Then she just took off." Was she shocked? "I was a bit surprised. She was worried that everybody would think they were silly old beggars. But I thought it was great. Then she said they were going to get married, and I was like: 'Wow!'" Like her other dramas, Last Tango has more up its sleeve. If the seventysomethings are prominent, so are their dysfunctional families, particularly the daughters: one a snooty headteacher who has recently come out as gay, the other a sheep farmer surrounded by the fall-out from several messed-up relationships. ‘Mum was worried we’d think they were silly old beggars’ … Sally Wainwright.

Photograph: Richard Kendal/BAFTA/REX With downbeat drama dominating TV schedules, Wainwright points to the uplifting nature of the plot as part of the show's appeal. "What was different about this was that it offered people hope. So many series lately, like Broadchurch and Southcliffe, seem grim and not much else. I need something lighter. Real life is a mixture of dark and funny. I persevered with Top of the Lake [the recent Jane Campion miniseries] for four episodes, then I was ready to slit my wrists." Wainwright's taste for strong female characters also distinguishes her writing. She shrugs as she recalls someone claiming, at an industry conference, that viewers prefer powerful men. "I'm rare in that I like to see women in strong roles. The shows I liked [growing up] were about strong women: Juliet Bravo, The Duchess of Duke Street, Rock Follies." How about the accusation that the men she writes are weak? "I don't think so. I just don't focus on them. I resent it because there's this perception that I consciously write men as twats. I don't." Last Tango isn't the only script on her plate.

Scott & Bailey has now being picked up for a fourth series . Its genesis was less personal: Suranne Jones, star of Unforgiven, fancied doing a British Cagney & Lacey, and Wainwright was brought in to fashion the plots. But she found a way in via long conversations with a Manchester detective inspector, Diane Taylor. "I couldn't have invented the stuff that she told me, like interview techniques, which we've seen dramatised so many times – wrongly. We did it as accurately as we could, where it's very calm, very planned." Police work also features in her new six-part BBC1 series Happy Valley , which begins filming later this month. It stars Sarah Lancashire as a West Yorkshire police officer grappling with a mysterious kidnapping, and is described by Wainwright as "Juliet Bravo meets Fargo". Then there's a new biopic about the Brontë sisters, again for the BBC. "I'm fascinated by three literary geniuses in one family, and the fact that they had such robust imaginative worlds inside their heads but outwardly they were regarded as mice." Wainwright is big on authenticity. It's no accident that mid-life rethinks loom large in her work, she says.

"Middle age is an interesting period to write about. You've got teenage children to deal with, elderly parents. You're at the peak of your career, so you've got a lot of responsibility, pressure, people waiting for you to make decisions. It's fulfilling on one level. On another, you feel you're only just getting by. I do [feel like that] most days." I wonder how her mother felt about Last Tango; did she have any qualms about being depicted on screen? She laughs, and admits she jibbed a little at a scene where her on-screen counterpart regards her daughter's gay partner with obvious distaste. "I tried to explain that you've got to have some drama in it, that it's not all about her," Wainwright says, and smiles. "She does read the Daily Mail, though." • The second series of Last Tango in Halifax starts on BBC1 on 19 November. TV writer says third Happy Valley series is on hold for at least a year, as she uses Wellcome Trust fellowship for new project Published: 24 Nov 2016 From Last Tango in Halifax to Happy Valley, Sally Wainwright has written some of the most acclaimed British TV of recent times.

How does she do it? And where do her characters come from? Published: 13 Aug 2016 Sally Wainwright age, height. awards, nationality, nominations, education Education : English literature and creative writing Education at : York University Name on Birth : Sally Wainwright Place of Birth : Huddersfield Sally Wainwright is a British BAFTA winning television writer and playwright as for her major profession so far by now. The award winning lady Sally has won numerous awards till now which includes the 2009 Writer of the Year Award given by the RTS in 2009 for Unforgiven. Additional to it, she has also bagged BAFTA’s award for best series and Wainwright was voted as best writer. She has been well known for her work on the BBC dramas Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax. Sally Wainwright was born in 1963 in Huddersfield. She spent her childhood in Sowerby Bridge and had attended Sowerby Bridge High School. Later she attended York University to take English literature and creative writing. After university she unsuccessfully took a play to the Edinburgh Festival but she found an agent for her writing in the process.

To help herself economically, she used to work as bus driver but late she left the job and started to write for the Radio 4 series The Archers. After she wrote for Coronation Street, developing her writing skills, from 1994 to 1999, she was mentored by Kay Mellor, the writer of the TV series Band of Gold, who encouraged her to leave the safe job on the soap and write. Later she created the TV series At Home with the Braithwaites about a woman who had secretly won the lottery. The programme was nominated for many awards. She won the 2009 Writer of the Year Award given by the RTS in 2009 for Unforgiven which took several awards including best TV series. She always loved to have control over the television that is created and has done some directing and production of her own work to ensure the scenery and dialogue reflects Yorkshire. So far by now, her writings are based on strong female characters. Wainwright says that her strong female flawed characters are almost real to her and arrive fully formed in her imagination. In 2011 she wrote Scott and Bailey, a series about two female police officers.

The idea for the series came from the leading actresses and former Detective Inspector Diane Taylor, who assisted with bring the series to the air. Her next series Last Tango in Halifax was based on her mother’s story. But after her father’s demise, her mother moved to Oxforshire to with her daughter and rediscovered a lost love, Alec Walker, via Friends Reunited. With her mother's permission, Wainwright developed the story of how she remarried so rapidly, publishing series's extracts to her mother before broadcast. Later she told the story to Nicola Shindler, she suggested her to turn her mother’s experience into television series. After that she became the series’ executive producer. Both Last Tango in Halifax and her crime series Scott and Bailey were both turned down by both BBC and ITV before both were accepted respectively. As for her awards, she has won many awards through her acting skill, which includes “2009 Writer of the Year” and BAFTA’s award for her best series. Now turning back to her personal life, Sally has not disclosed any information about her in public till the date. She always likes to hide her personal profile from media for her privacy. She has been known by her creative writing skills till the end.

Her writing skill is so realistic and natural that it can have direct affect on mind of audience. Every single day she is collecting much more mass of people as for her fans and followers. They are following her via every single social networking sites to which she is connected. They are expecting more and more from her and looking forward to her further creations. The award winning lady Sally likes to read feedbacks from her fans and followers and looks always forward to correct herself. The Custard TV: Happy Valley: The Best drama on TV Wednesday, 17 February 2016 Happy Valley: The Best drama on TV I've moaned consistently about how some dramas don't really require a second series. Some stories are told over 5,6 or 8 episodes and tie up all the loose ends nicely. Believe it or not there are times even I can be proved wrong. Case in point is the absolutely stunning second series of Sally Wainwright's Calder Valley masterpiece Happy Valley. The first series, which was shown in 2014 wasn't just the best drama of that year, but one of the best UK dramas for years. It ended with huge ratings, got everyone talking and yet when the second series was announced my little heart sank.

It was sheer perfection and I've learnt that TV lightning almost never strikes twice. Wrong again! We're only two episodes into the six-part second series and it's already as compelling as the first. At Home With Braithwaites ran for four series on ITV Sally Wainwright is no stranger to do more than one series of her hits. Her first ITV hit was the fantastic At Home With the Braithwaites which ran for four series. She created and wrote three series of her other superb police drama Scott & Bailey before leaving the show to focus on Happy Valley and the upcoming fourth series of Last Tango in Halifax which itself is a masterpiece. Last Tango in Halifax was based on Sally's mum's experiences. So what is it exactly that's got me so in awe of Happy Valley? It's just so well done. Sarah Lancashire inhabits her tortured no nonsense character so well, it's cliched but I could watch her read the phonebook. Then there's her relationship with her onscreen sister, the equally brilliant Siobhan Finneran. Each time the two are together on screen I have the biggest smile on their face.

It's not the first time the pair have worked together, they were also thick as thieves in the first series of BBC1's Clocking Off from Paul Abbott. The series was also produced by the same production company, Red Production Company which now produces Happy Valley. It was clear from the scenes they shared in Clocking Off that the pair shared a good chemistry. I think something else that's working in favour of this second series of Happy Valley is the fact that Sally Wainwright (who also directs) knows each member of her cast so well, she can write to their strengths. She has worked with Sarah Lancashire for three years on Last Tango in Halifax, Siobhan Finneran has in a number of Sally's other dramas like Sparkhouse, The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard and 2009's Unforgiven. She has long ties with the new cast members too. Kevin Doyle who has the joined the cast as John Wadsworth also played a pivotal in Sally's At Home with Braithwaites from 2000 till the series ended in 2003. Amelia Bullmore who is blackmailing John over their affair also worked with Sally on Scott & Bailey.

The fact the cast have these ties with the writer must account for some of it's success. Amelia Bullmore in Scott & Bailey from 2011-2014 Then there's the story, or should I say stories that are seemingly interwoven throughout. each one as compelling and engrossing as the one before. There's an awful lot going on but Wainwright's skill is such that you never feel confused or lost at any point. There's the death of Tommy Lee Royce's mother Lynne which Catherine is suspected of. Kevin Doyle plays John, a policemen on the investigation looking into the murder who is being blackmailed by a woman who he's been affair with. Vicky (played by the always brilliant Amelia Bullmore) is going to desperate measures to assure John leaves his wife. She drugged him and took comprising photos that she plans to send out to everyone in his phone's address book if he doesn't comply or pay her the £1000 pounds a month she's requesting. Then there's the wonderfully creepy Shirley Henderson as dowdy Frances Drummod who is visiting Tommy Lee Royce in prison and who has just taken a job at his son's school in a bid to closer to him.

Still following? Then there's Ann Gallagher (Charlie Murphy) who has used her terrifying experiences in the first series to launch herself into a new career as a 'plastic policemen' on Catherine's unit. The Gallagher's have a lot to contend with since we said goodbye to them eighteen months ago, Nev's wife and Ann's mother has died from cancer and Nev's fired brooding and mysterious employee Sean Balmforth (Matthew Lewis) who Catherine suspects of the violent murders. If that weren't enough Claire (Siobhan Finneran) who is a recovering alcoholic and spent the first series loyally by her sister's side, has fallen off the wagon rebelling. Wow that's a lot! The joy of Happy Valley though is that each of the stories sit together with one another and you know they'll come together in ways we're not clever enough to imagine at this point. Happy Valley features everything a British drama does best: It's full of believable, true to life characters, it's gritty but is full of humour - it's damn near perfect! Full of intrigue, and one great performance after another from a cast that doesn't put a foot wrong.

We've been experiencing what some have referred to as 'Golden Age' of drama of late, with most of the plaudits going to series like Breaking Bad and the Netflix originals like Orange is the New Black. Don't get me wrong I think Breaking Bad was one of the best TV dramas I've ever ever seen but Happy Valley is right up there with it for me. It's doing it a complete disservice to just describe this as a great British drama, it is that but it's also a great drama. It's one we should be proud of, and shout about. If you're not watching you're missing out on everything! I have one small complaint about this new series: there's only four episodes left!!! Happy Valley Continues Tuesday 9.00pm on BBC One. By Sally Wainwright: My Yorkshire - Yorkshire Post Sally Wainwright: My Yorkshire Have your say SALLY Wainwright was born in Huddersfield in 1963, went to Sowerby Bridge High School and the University of York. Sally is a BAFTA-nominated television writer and playwright and her creations include At Home with the Braithwaites and Scott and Bailey currently on ITV. What’s your first Yorkshire memory?

Going to look round a house in Elland that my parents were buying. Number 37, Jepson Lane. I think I was probably about two or three years old at the time. We lived there for about five years, and the thing that I distinctly recall was a huge cupboard in the sitting room, which was full of crockery. When we moved in, it became our toy cupboard. What’s your favourite part of the county – and why? West Yorkshire. A lot of my school friends are there. I work in Manchester a lot, and there’s nothing nicer than popping over and catching up. I’ve known a lot of them since we were 11 or 12 years old and that’s pretty rare these days. Some, well, we lost touch for a while, but now it’s a bit like Friends Reunited. What’s your idea of a perfect day or a perfect weekend out in Yorkshire? Catching up with my friend Tabitha, going out with her to feed her horses, going out walking her dogs, calling on her neighbours, going out for supper up at the Blue Ball, which is below Ripponden. I got my cat Merlin from her neighbour Sharon.

Merlin’s a Maine Coon and he’s the biggest cat in the world. He’s a metre long. Do you have a favourite walk – or view? Looking across the moors from Tabitha’s house where we filmed Unforgiven. I’ve been going up there since I was 12. I love it. It’s wild and beautiful. I find Flamborough Head very compelling too. My mum Dorothy, who is now in her 80s, lives in Bridlington, so whenever I visit her I always try and get to Flamborough. A new screenplay I’m writing has mum as one of the central characters… and that’s all about Friends Reunited, as well. Which Yorkshire sportsman, past or present, would you like to take out for lunch? I’m ahead of you – I’ve already done it. Well, it wasn’t lunch, it was actually a cup of coffee at a motorway service station. And it was Eric Boocock, speedway rider. When we were little, my late dad Harry took me and my sister Diane to the Shay on Saturday nights to watch the Halifax Dukes.

We used to knit our own red and blue scarves to stick badges on, then go and get the riders to autograph our programmes before the races. Ivan Mauger and Eric Boocock were the out and out favourites. A few years ago, Stone City Films asked me to write a drama about speedway, and they fixed up for me to meet Eric by way of research. I spent a very entertaining couple of hours with him at this motorway service station halfway between where he lives and where I live. He was a real proper larger-than-life character, full of colourful anecdotes. Which Yorkshire stage or screen star, past or present, would you like to take out for dinner? I wouldn’t particularly want to embarrass her by asking her out for dinner, but Nicola Burley, who plays a rape victim in episode three of Scott and Bailey is a real up and coming star. She’s from Leeds. When we were casting the role, Beverley Keogh, the casting director, said: “You want to watch out for this girl, she’s going places.”. If you had to name your Yorkshire hidden gem what would it be? Shibden Hall Folk Museum.

I love Shibden Hall anyway, but the folk museum that was put together there in the 1950s is extraordinary. It’s genuinely like stepping back in time and into another world. It has a beautiful atmosphere. One of my happiest moments and memories was getting locked in there quite recently, with the director Robin Sheppard. Robin and I were sitting in the museum area, chatting away so happily that she and I hadn’t noticed that they’d shut up shop for the day. What do you think gives Yorkshire its unique identity? The accent and the landscape, varied as both these things are within the county. Look at everything there is here – wild countryside, rugged coasts, the softness of the land south of York, the industrial and the rural. And look how the accent varies – Rotherham is distinctly different from Richmond, and yet both are from Yorkshire. Do you find all that anywhere else in the UK? I think not. Do you follow sport in the county, and if so what? Sadly, no. Not since the decline of the Halifax Dukes. When they were at the top of their game they were a force to be reckoned with. Do you have a favourite restaurant or pub?

When I was at university in York my three best mates Ilga, Wol and Sarah and I spent far too many a happy hour(s) in Walker’s Bar on Micklegate drinking Old Peculier. I also have a soft spot for The Puzzle Hall Inn in Sowerby Bridge just because it’s got such a great name. When I was 18 I spent an hour and a half on my own in there waiting for someone who never turned up... I was“proper stood up”. Do you have a favourite food shop? When I was in the sixth form at Sowerby Bridge High School, I used to go out at lunch time and buy chips from what seemed the smallest chip shop in the world at the bottom of Claremont Street. And as well as being the smallest chip shop on the planet, it was triangular shaped as well. Also the chips were fabulous,. How do you think that Yorkshire has changed, for better or worse, in the time that you’ve know it? Better. It’s a big question, so I’ll just give you one example: when I was at Triangle CofE Primary School, we had outside toilets. The toilet paper was always slightly damp.

The toilets didn’t have seats, they just had bits of curved, bleached wood to perch on. But would conditions like that be allowed today? Who is the Yorkshire person that you most admire? Anne Lister (1791-1839) who owned Shibden Hall in Halifax. She was a fascinating, eccentric woman with boundless energy and a very astute, inquiring mind. She studied brain surgery in Paris, made the first recorded ascent of Mount Vignemale in the Pyrenees, wrote vast diaries (partially in a secret code) and – in 1832 – got married to another woman, a neighbouring heiress, Ann Walker. In an age where women didn’t have much clout, and where society had very rigid rules, she pushed the boundaries as far as they’d go, yet maintained her respectability. She’s the person I’d really like to take out for dinner. Can I have a second choice in Amy Johnson? Has Yorkshire influenced your work? Emphatically, yes. I always write dialogue in my own vernacular whenever possible. The Yorkshire accent lends itself so nicely to dry wit. The landscape has been important in several of my dramas.

Sparkhouse and Unforgiven were both set and filmed on the moors above Ripponden in West Yorkshire where I grew up. Equally three writers I feel I’ve been most heavily influenced by are Yorkshire women: Emily Bronte, Kate Atkinson and Kay Mellor. Now I’m thinking about it, I feel like my writing is like Yorkshire itself; full of comedy on the surface but with something very dark going on underneath. Name your favourite book/author/artist/CD/performer. Kate Atkinson. The woman’s a genius. You finish reading one of her novels and you think, “I wish I’d written that”. Her latest novel Started Early, Took My Dog (which is set in Leeds) is first and foremost vastly entertaining, often laugh-out-loud-funny despite the fact that it’s about the darkest things in human nature, and then it’s massively insightful, and beautifully, brilliantly written. Utterly compulsive. Genius plotting. You can’t believe someone’s clever enough to write like that.

BAFTA Masterclass: Screenwriting with Sally Wainwright | BAFTA Home What's On BAFTA Masterclass: Screenwriting with Sally Wainwright BAFTA Masterclass: Screenwriting with Sally Wainwright Share Tuesday, 24 February 2015 - 6:45pm Princess Anne Theatre, BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, London Book Tickets Looking back over her body of work, Sally will offer insight into her screenwriting process, sharing why she’s always had a compulsion to tell stories, how she found her voice as a writer, and what she has learnt from her mistakes as well as her successes. She will also reflect upon her role as executive producer on her dramas as well as how she approaches directing. Followed by networking drinks BAFTA award-winning writer Sally Wainwright has been bringing television drama to our screens for nearly 25 years starting out on The Archers, Emmerdale and Coronation Street. Sally continued to hone her craft on programmes including the BAFTA-nominated At Home with the Braithwaites 15 years ago.

Sally is especially admired for the quality of her dialogue, and how she brings women, relationships and landscapes to life – from ITV’s Unforgiven and Scott and Bailey, to the BBC’s Happy Valley and currently back for a third series, Last Tango in Halifax. Sally will be in conversation with broadcaster and journalist Mark Lawson About the strand: Bringing the brightest creative behind the scenes talent to audiences throughout the UK, the BAFTA Masterclass invites BAFTA winners and nominees to share their craft and deliver an on-stage session about their creative processes. Members' booking opens Wednesday 14 January Public booking opens Friday 16 January Please note that you will be able to collect your tickets at Reception before this event Happy Valley writer: I don't have to apologise for show's violence | Television & radio | The Guardian The Observer Happy Valley writer: I don't have to apologise for show's violence Sally Wainwright, creator of the hit BBC1 drama, defends the depiction of brutality and says storylines were carefully considered Sarah Lancashire as Catherine Cawood, whose savage beating by a psychopathic kidnapper led to criticism of gratuitous violence against women.

Photograph: Ben Blackall/BBC/Red Productions Saturday 24 May 2014 19.05 EDT First published on Saturday 24 May 2014 19.05 EDT Close This article is 2 years old Millions of Happy Valley viewers are on tenterhooks following last week's episode of the hit BBC1 drama, when police sergeant Catherine Cawood was left for dead. After a savage beating by a psychopathic kidnapper, she collapsed in the street, her bloodied face filling the screen as the credits rolled. These violent scenes, and similarly strong scenes from earlier in the series, have prompted criticism of the programme's creator-writer, Sally Wainwright, from Mediawatch-UK , which campaigns for more regulation. Some newspapers have also remarked on what they see as gratuitous violence against women. "Did the BBC's brutal Happy Valley go too far?" the Daily Mail asked .

In a robust response, Wainwright told the Observer she was "saddened" that the Mail had picked up on the attack on Cawood – played by Bafta-winner Sarah Lancashire – and a previous incident when a young woman police officer was crushed to death and had "tried to make a thing of it, when shows like Game of Thrones have so much gratuitous violence against lots of people". Wainwright said: "This is a quality, well-written drama. I think it is childish [of the Daily Mail]. I think it has backfired on them. Judging by the amount of email, texts, tweets I've had, I don't think anyone is asking me to apologise. I'm sorry if some people found it too much. You can always turn the telly off. "I directed and edited last week's episode, the first time I have done so," she said, adding that all the close-up shots and treatment were carefully considered. "It showed what a heroic and responsible human being Catherine is.

How she is prepared to put her life on the line in order to save someone else [a kidnapped, raped and drugged woman, Ann]." Cawood finds Ann, 22, the daughter of a local millionaire businessman, imprisoned in a cellar. One of the kidnappers, a psychopathic murderer called Tommy Lee Royce, attacks Cawood, but Ann struggles free in time to knock him out. Wainwright said: "What was particularly uplifting was that Ann, though suffering a terrible ordeal, had the presence of mind to rescue the woman who went to save her. Out of darkness something uplifting and beautiful happened. The Daily Mail have shot themselves in the foot." And what of the bloodied close-up of Cawood's face that closed the fourth of the series' six episodes? "If you get your head smacked against the wall, you bleed. It's life," said Wainwright. "Drama is about the dark side. How bad things happen to good people. All the women in this are seen to suffer in some way." Cawood is already haunted by the death of her raped daughter Becky, which is the theme of the final episodes.

Wainwright explained that the brutal death of the young policewoman was all part of the dynamics of the drama, to deliberately change the tempo. "It showed how much of a psychopath he [Tommy] is. It upped the ante hugely – just what is this man is capable of? "I think violence is shocking. If violence on screen was so regular and people barely noticed it, that would be gratuitous. I hate gratuitous violence. "I used to be a post-feminist. Then I became a feminist. But I do worry about the levels of violence in video games, and how casually they treat women. It is … run of the mill. I don't think we can be complacent." Wainwright, 50, was born in Huddersfield and brought up in the Halifax and Calder Valley area, where Happy Valley is set, and studied English at York University. She has two sons, and is married to a dealer in antiquarian sheet music. The family home is in Witney, Oxfordshire, David Cameron's constituency. But her creative and emotional roots remain in Yorkshire, and she often goes there alone, or with friends, to research and write.

She was inspired to write Happy Valley partly by a hard-hitting documentary about the drugs culture undermining the Hebden Bridge area, which led the police to dub it Happy Valley . "It shocked me: I grew up there and I had no idea. But the drama isn't all about drug addicts," she added, pointing to the good characters, including Cawood's ex husband, journalist Richard. Wainwright's TV writing career was launched at Coronation Street, after a stint driving the no 37 London bus and 18 months on The Archers. She is an expert in creating strong and arresting roles for women. Her breakthrough hit was At Home with the Braithwaites, starring Amanda Redman, about a larger-than-life mother who wins the lottery. She also had success with Last Tango in Halifax (series three is under way). This created meaty romantic roles for older actors Anne Reid and Derek Jacobi, with Sarah Lancashire playing a high-achieving gay daughter to Reid's character Celia. Wainwright said she is going through a fantastic period in a, so far, 25-year career, which has had downs as well as ups.

Both ITV and the BBC initially turned down Last Tango in Halifax, because of its unfashionable storyline about love between pensioners, until the BBC changed its mind in 2011. A political drama, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard, about a novice politician who becomes prime minister, bombed in 2006. She said of Happy Valley, which is the current top-rated TV drama, with an audience share of 27% and consolidated ratings heading towards eight million: "The show is a phenomenon. I think this is pretty much the zenith of things. I didn't expect it. I hoped it would do well but it has exceeded everything, even Last Tango in Halifax. What's unusual for this drama is that it appeals to men as much as women." She added a teaser about the series' conclusion: "Ann refuses to be a victim of what happened to her, to let it define her – being kidnapped, being raped. She goes on to give an uplifting message." Wainwright is in discussions with the BBC about a second series of Happy Valley. Vicky Frost writes: From Last Tango in Halifax to Scott & Bailey, Happy Valley writer Sally Wainwright creates strong, straight-talking female characters.

So why did it take TV so long to appreciate them? Published: 6 Jun 2014 TV writer says third Happy Valley series is on hold for at least a year, as she uses Wellcome Trust fellowship for new project Published: 24 Nov 2016 From Last Tango in Halifax to Happy Valley, Sally Wainwright has written some of the most acclaimed British TV of recent times. How does she do it? And where do her characters come from? Published: 13 Aug 2016 Sally Wainwright says a desire to be something other than British makes some homegrown dramas difficult to watch Published: 6 Jun 2014 Sally Wainwright — The Edinburgh International Television Festival Sally Wainwright Writer, executive producer, director Sally Wainwright is a multi BAFTA award winning Writer, Executive Producer and Director. This year alone saw the return of three of her most celebrated, critically acclaimed and award credited TV dramas: Happy Valley, Last Tango In Halifax, and Scott & Bailey. Sally began her writing career on the Radio 4 series The Archers and ITV’s Coronation Street.

She created and wrote her first original series At Home with the Braithwaites in 2000. It ran for 4 series (2000–2003), selling worldwide and earning Sally several award nominations including an International Emmy nomination. In 2009 Sally created and wrote the ITV three-parter Unforgiven starring Suranne Jones. Sally next co-created, wrote and executive produced the female led detective series Scott & Bailey (2011-2016), garnering 2 more BAFTA noms. Last Tango in Halifax, (2012-), created, written and executive produced by Wainwright, based on the true story of her mother’s second chance at happiness when she married her long lost childhood sweetheart, brought her 2 BAFTA wins in 2013, Best Writer and Best Drama Series. In 2014, Wainwright created, wrote, executive produced, and made her directorial debut on Happy Valley, winning BAFTA’s Best Writer as well as Best Drama Series Awards in 2015.

As well as her original work, Sally has adapted The Taming Of The Shrew and The Wife Of Bath’s Tale, and this year is creating To Walk Invisible, a hotly anticipated one-off film for BBC One on the Brontë sisters which she will write, direct and executive produce. Share this: Happy Valley writer to be honoured by Huddersfield University - Hebden Bridge Times Happy Valley writer to be honoured by Huddersfield University 17:31 Wednesday 06 April 2016 Have your say The writer of one of TV’s most-watched dramas based in Calderdale is being honoured by a university. Sally Wainwright, who has written and produced BBC series Happy Valley, will receive an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Huddersfield. The BAFTA Award-winners latest works also include successful TV dramas Last Tango in Halifax and Scott & Bailey. She will receive the honorary university award for services to television drama and the TV industry in Yorkshire at the centre’s July award ceremonies. Sally started her writing career on the Radio 4 series The Archers and ITV’s Coronation Street.

She created and wrote her first original series At Home with the Braithwaites in 2000, which ran for four series. In 2009, her three-part drama Unforgiven took to the screen, starring Suranne Jones, before she co-created female-led detective series Scott & Bailey in 2011. Last Tango in Halifax, which started in 2012, was written and executive produced by Sally. She won two BAFTA awards for the series in 2013 - Best Writer and Best Drama Series. The following year she Happy Valley, which went on to bag her BAFTA’s Best Writer again as well as Best Drama Series in 2015. Trending

Question: Which BAFTA-nominated television writer has created the series Scott & Bailey. At Home with the Braithwaites for ITV and Last Tango in Halifax and Happy Valley for the BBC?
Answer: SALLY WAINWRIGHT